Cheap Mr. Wong Collection (Mr. Wong, Detective / Mystery Of Mr. Wong / Mr. Wong In Chinatown / The Fatal Hour / Doomed To Die / Phantom Of Chinatown) (2DVD) (DVD) Price

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Customer Reviews of Mr. Wong Collection (Mr. Wong, Detective / Mystery Of Mr. Wong / Mr. Wong In Chinatown / The Fatal Hour / Doomed To Die / Phantom Of Chinatown) (2DVD)

YOU CAN'T GO WONG WITH THIS SET
The great Boris Karloff stars in five late 30's as the well educated oriental sleuth Mr. Wong. Unlike many of the stereotypes (Charlie Chan, Mr. Moto), this movie is basically devoid of pidgeon English with a minimal of racial slurs. Karloff's Wong is smart and elegant. Grant Withers co-stars as the detective who always asks Wong for assistance with his cases. The series became more lively in the last three outings beginning with "Mr. Wong In Chinatown" with the edition of Marjorie Reynolds, as a nosy reporter and sometimes girlfriend of of Withers. Their bickering and snappy one liners are terrific and add a lightness and humor to this dark genre. <
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>The transfer and qualty are very good but too expensive. None of these flicks run longer than 70 minutes and the 6th movie does not star Boris Karloff. Key Luke plays Mr. Wong in "Phantom Over Chinatown" with Grant Withers reprising his role. It is hard to determine if this is a relative of the original Mr. Wong or a "younger" Mr. Wong. Further explanation is needed as this becomes a bit confusing and convolutes the sometimes weak plot. <
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>The Karloff series is the best entry in oriental sleuth genre. It is a shame he became bored with it and left in 1940. Don't confuse this with the poor Bela Lugosi "The Mysterious Mr. Wong". This film has nothing to do with the famous detective series and is filled with insulting ethnic stereotypes and slurs. <
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>If you can afford the set, it is recommended. It's a winner.

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Fairly Enjoyable
Monogram's 'Mr. Wong' series was apparently done as a rip-off of Fox's Charlie Chan series. Like those films, Mr. Wong featured a wise Oriental detective. Oh...and they also both starred non-Asians. Boris Karloff, I think we can all agree, was just about the least Chinese person in the entire known Universe, but his gentlemanly performance gave the Mr. Wong series a bit of dignity and class. The films on their own are mildly enjoyable potboilers, instantly forgettable but entertaining while playing. This two-disc DVD set gathers the six Mr. Wong films: "Mr. Wong, Detective," "The Mysterious Mr. Wong," "Mr. Wong in Chinatown," "The Fatal Hour," "Doomed to Die," and "The Phantom of Chinatown" (starring Charlie Chan's 'number one son,' Keye Luke, as a young Mr. Wong). "Mr. Wong Detective" is the best. "Phantom of Chinatown" is easily the worst - its jaw dropping political incorectness is hard to take.
The DVD from Roan Group has the films in just about the best condition you'll probably find them in. There are still scratches and plenty of grain, but overall the image is quite sharp and as clear as you could expect. Sound isn't great, but that probably has to do with the sub-par and neglected source materials. The biggest disappointment of the set is that there are no extras whatsoever - some liner notes, production notes, or a photo gallery are all I ask for.

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OVERPRICED
This set is good, but not worth what Amazon is charging. At the Big O I paid a quarter of this price. In fact, all the Roan titles the Big O carries are at a significant discount from Amazon.